Most of the new games on the present-day market are short-lived when compared to some of the fundamental games that have been passed down through the ages. One reason may be that the newer games generally depend upon a specific optimal combination of moves to win, and once discovered, the game becomes boringly redundant. For example, a recent game that has become a short-lived "fad" is Rubick's Cube. Those people that have learned the proper sequence of moves to arrange the various colors become bored because the "challenge" is gone--all that is left is to be able to perform the sequence of moves more quickly.
Those games that have lasted throughout a long period of time have offered something more than mere repetition as the basis for winning. Their real essence is in the fact that every time the game is played a different sequence of moves occurs to win the game. Examples are plentiful, from the simplicity of checkers and dominoes, to the complexity of chess. Although even these games have various repeated sequences which give one player an advantage over the other, the lifeblood is in the fact that there are many variations in the combinations of such sequences--sometimes called strategy--and no specific strategy will always win the game. Such games become "educational" in that they develop a player's logical thinking, inductive reasoning and analytical foresight as he anticipates his opponent's moves and strategies.